Method And Apparatus For Invoking Fingerprint Identification Device, And Mobile Terminal

ABSTRACT

A method and an apparatus for invoking a fingerprint identification device are provided. The method includes the following. When a request of a current application to invoke a fingerprint identification device is detected, whether the fingerprint identification device is occupied by a historical application is determined. When the fingerprint identification device is occupied by the historical application, whether the current application meets a preset invoking condition is determined, and then the fingerprint identification device is controlled to process the request of the current application according to the determination result.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 15/895,250, filed onFeb. 13, 2018, which is a continuation of International Application No.PCT/CN2016/091801, filed on Jul. 26, 2016, which claims priority toChinese Patent Application No. 201510680682.X, filed on Oct. 19, 2015,the contents of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference intheir entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the field of mobile terminals, andmore particularly, to a method and an apparatus for invoking afingerprint identification device, and a mobile terminal.

BACKGROUND

For mobile terminals such as mobile phones and tablet PCs, users oftencarry it with them and store a large amount data concerning personalprivacy and property security. Therefore, the security of mobileterminals is particularly important.

Biological features such as fingerprints have the characteristics ofinvariance, uniqueness, and convenience, and therefore, authenticationbased on biological features has the performance of high stability,reliability, and security. Nowadays, fingerprint identificationtechnology has fully developed and mobile terminals are often equippedwith fingerprint sensors and other fingerprint identification devicesfor fingerprint authentication, such as terminal unlocking, applicationunlocking, and fingerprint payment.

However, generally only one fingerprint identification device isprovided in the mobile terminal, on the other hand, more and moreapplications need to invoke the fingerprint identification device in themobile terminal. A conflict will occur when the fingerprintidentification device is simultaneously invoked by multipleapplications. As an example, application A needs to perform fingerprintpayment and thus requests to invoke and then occupies the fingerprintidentification device; meanwhile, if a user switches to application Bwhich requires performing fingerprint unlocking, application B willattempt to request to invoke the fingerprint identification device whenits interface is initialized. In this situation, application A may notrelease the occupation of the fingerprint identification device in timedue to software defects or other reasons, and the fingerprintidentification device will refuse the request of application B directly,therefore affecting the normal use for the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating a method for invoking afingerprint identification device according to a first implementation ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating a method for invoking afingerprint identification device according to a second implementationof the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for invoking afingerprint identification device according to a third implementation ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a terminal according to a fourthimplementation of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a mobile terminal according to afifth implementation of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Technical solutions of the present disclosure will be further describedbelow through implementations with reference to the accompanyingdrawings. It will be appreciated that the implementations are describedherein for the purpose of explaining the disclosure rather than limitingthe disclosure. In addition, it should also be noted that, for theconvenience of description, only some rather than all structures relatedto the present disclosure are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Before discussing the exemplary implementations in more detail, itshould be mentioned that some exemplary implementations are described asprocesses or methods of a flow chart. In the flowchart, although eachstep is depicted as being processed sequentially, some of these stepsmay be performed in parallel, concurrently, or simultaneously. Inaddition, the order of the steps can be rearranged. The process of onestep may be terminated when a corresponding operation is completed, butthe implementations may also have additional steps that are notillustrated in the drawings. The process may correspond to a method, afunction, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, and the like.

In the following, some of the terms used herein are explained tofacilitate the understanding for those skilled in the art.

Terminal

Terminal, also known as a terminal device, terminal equipment, or userequipment (UE), means an electronic device that provides voice and/ordata connectivity to a user, examples of which can be hand-held deviceswith wireless connectivity function, on-board devices, or the like.Common terminals can be, for example, mobile phones, tablets, laptops,handheld computers, mobile internet devices (MID), or wearable equipmentsuch as smart watches, smart bracelets, and pedometers or others.Terminals in the present disclosure are not limited to mobile terminalsand common terminals, but can also be automated teller machines (ATM),ticket machines, entrance guard machines, medical equipment, or otherterminals equipped with fingerprint recognition function.

Fingerprint Sensor

A fingerprint sensor, also known as a fingerprint recognition module orfingerprint recognition sensor, can realize the recognition ofindividual fingerprint features through a specific induction sensor. Atpresent, the fingerprint recognition sensor is mainly divided into anoptical fingerprint sensor, a capacitive fingerprint sensor, and a radiofrequency (RF) fingerprint sensor. The fingerprint recognition sensorcan be set in combination with a metal dome array (in other words, domekey) of a terminal, and can be set on the front surface, the racesurface, or the side surface of the terminal, the present disclosure isnot limited thereto. Similarly, the fingerprint recognition sensor canbe set in combination with the touch screen of the terminal. Forexample, the fingerprint recognition sensor can be set below the touchpanel of the touch screen.

At present, more and more system applications and user-installedapplications on the mobile terminal need to invoke the fingerprintidentification device for fingerprint authentication. For example, whenunlocking the mobile terminal, the fingerprint identification device maybe invoked to perform fingerprint unlocking. As another example, theremay be different scenarios that need fingerprint authentication in thesame application. The following describes a Payment App (Such asAlipay®) as an example. When a user starts his/her Payment App, thefingerprint identification device may be invoked to authenticate theuser's identity, which is equivalent to logging into the Payment Appaccount and thus ensures the information security of the user's account.When the user needs to use the Payment App for payment, the Payment Appwill invoke the fingerprint identification device to authenticate theidentity of the user again, and payment can only be made afterauthentication, thus ensuring the capital safety of the user. On amobile terminal in the related art, an application usually attempts torequest to invoke a fingerprint identification device when its interfaceis initialized. If the fingerprint identification device is occupied byanother application, the fingerprint identification device will refusethe request of the application directly, thus affecting the normal useof the user. Taking the above into consideration, the present disclosureprovides a technical scheme for invoking a fingerprint identificationdevice.

First Implementation

FIG. 1 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating a method for invoking afingerprint identification device according to a first implementation ofthe disclosure. The method may be performed by an apparatus for invokinga fingerprint identification device. The apparatus can be achieved bysoftware and/or hardware and is generally integrated into a mobileterminal. In the method of invoking a fingerprint identification device,when a request of a current application to invoke a fingerprintidentification device is detected or received, first determine whetherthe fingerprint identification device is occupied by a historicalapplication, and if yes, further determine whether the currentapplication satisfies a preset invoking condition, then control thefingerprint identification device to process the request based on adetermination result.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the method may include the following.

At block 102, a request of a current application to invoke a fingerprintidentification device is detected. As mentioned above, the fingerprintidentification device can be a fingerprint sensor, and can be invokedfor fingerprint identification.

At block 104, determine whether the fingerprint identification device isoccupied by a historical application.

As an example, “mobile terminal” referred to herein may be a mobilephone, a smart watch, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, or otherdevices equipped with a fingerprint sensor. In one implementation, themobile terminal is a smart phone. Those skilled in the art will knowthat, an apparatus used to perform the method described in theimplementation is not limited to being integrated into a mobileterminal, but may also be integrated into other electronic devices suchas a desktop computer provided with a fingerprint sensor. Generally,integration into a mobile terminal is advantageous because thebeneficial effects are more obvious and therefore, the implementationsof the present disclosure are illustrated by taking the apparatusintegrated into a mobile terminal as an example.

Common fingerprint identification devices include optical fingerprintsensors and semiconductor fingerprint sensors, and the implementationsof the disclosure do not limit the type and model of the fingerprintidentification device.

The current application and the historical application in thisimplementation can include applications as well as different applicationscenarios in the applications. In particular, the current applicationmay refer to an application that the mobile terminal is processing, andthe historical application may refer to an application that the mobileterminal processed before the current application. For example, if auser wants to make a fingerprint payment when he or she uses an InstantMessenger App (such as WeChat®), the user may start a Payment App (Suchas Alipay®), which requires fingerprint logging. In this case, thePayment App is the current application, and the Instant Messenger App isthe historical application. As another example, a fingerprint loggingscenario and a fingerprint payment scenario may be involved in thePayment App, which means that fingerprint logging is required before afingerprint payment can be made; thus, the fingerprint payment is thecurrent application and the fingerprint logging is the historicalapplication.

As mentioned above, in the related art, in case that the Payment Appattempts to request to invoke the fingerprint identification device whenthe interface of the Payment App is initialized, and at this point, ifthe Instant Messenger App does not release the occupation of thefingerprint identification device in time, the fingerprintidentification device will refuse the request of the Payment Appdirectly, thus the user would not be able to access the Payment Appthrough fingerprint identification. For a further example, when the userwants to use the fingerprint payment function of the Payment App, thenthe fingerprint payment scenario will attempt to request to invoke thefingerprint identification device when the interface of the fingerprintpayment scenario is initialized, and at this point, if the fingerprintlogging scenario of the Payment App does not release the occupation ofthe fingerprint identification device in time, the fingerprintidentification device will refuse the request of the fingerprint paymentscenario of the Payment App directly, thus, it is impossible for theuser to make fingerprint payment in the Payment App through fingerprintidentification.

In the implementation, when the request of the current application toinvoke the fingerprint identification device is detected, whether thefingerprint identification device is occupied by the historicalapplication will be determined first, thereby avoiding that the requestof the current application to invoke the fingerprint identificationdevice is refused directly.

At block 106, when the fingerprint identification device is occupied bythe historical application, determine whether the current applicationsatisfies a preset invoking condition, and control the fingerprintidentification device to process the request of the current applicationaccording to a determination result.

In one implementation, the preset invoking condition is that oneapplication has stayed in the foreground for a preset time period. Basedon this, the current application satisfies the preset invoking conditionif it has stayed in the foreground for the preset time period (or evenexceed the preset time period), otherwise, the current application doesnot satisfy the preset invoking condition. The time period of staying inthe foreground can be a duration that the current application has beencontinuously displayed on the display screen. The preset time period maybe set by a system default or by a user according to his or her personalusage habit. Designers can determine the preset time period while fullyconsidering a time period that the user can perceive the abnormality ofthe fingerprint identification device, such that the conflict ofinvoking the fingerprint identification device can be solved before theuser is aware of the problem. For example, the preset time period can beset as 1 second or even less than 1 second.

The fingerprint identification device can be controlled to process therequest of the current application according to the determination resultas follows.

Example 1

If the current application satisfies the preset invoking condition, thefingerprint identification device is controlled to terminate to beoccupied by the historical application and accept the request of thecurrent application.

Example 2

If the current application does not satisfy the preset invokingcondition, then the fingerprint identification device is controlled torefuse the request of the current application. Alternatively, if thecurrent application does not satisfy the preset invoking condition, thefingerprint identification device can also be controlled to ignore andskip processing of the request of the current application.

According to the method for invoking a fingerprint identification deviceof the first implementation of the disclosure, when the request of thecurrent application to invoke the fingerprint identification device isdetected, whether the fingerprint identification device is occupied bythe historical application is determined. Whether the currentapplication satisfies the preset invoking condition is determined if thefingerprint identification device is occupied by the historicalapplication, and the fingerprint identification device is controlled toprocess the request of the current application according to thedetermination result. With aid of the technical schemes above, when themobile terminal wants to enable the current application according to auser operation and the current application needs to realize fingerprintauthentication through the fingerprint identification device, thecurrent application will send a request to invoke the fingerprintidentification device. If the fingerprint identification device isoccupied by the historical application, the fingerprint identificationdevice will first determine whether the current application meets thepreset invoking condition instead of refusing the request of the currentapplication immediately, and then the fingerprint identification deviceis controlled to process the request of the current applicationaccording to the determination result. Thus, the conflict of invokingthe fingerprint identification device occurred when the fingerprintidentification device is not released in time by the historicalapplication can be prevented, so as to guarantee the normal operation ofthe current application and improve user experience. The speed of aprocessor of a terminal can also be improved since conflicts occurredwhen invoking fingerprint identification device can be avoided.

Second Implementation

FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart illustrating a method for invoking afingerprint identification device according to a second implementationof the disclosure. The implementation is optimized on the basis of thefirst implementation.

As an example, the fingerprint identification device is a publicresource in the mobile terminal and it can be invoked by eitheruser-visible foreground applications or applications of backgroundprocesses. Therefore, there may be multiple applications thatsimultaneously request to invoke the fingerprint identification device.

Based on the above, as one implementation, the method further includesthe follows. When the request of the current application to invoke thefingerprint identification device is detected, determine whether thereis at least one other application requesting to invoke the fingerprintidentification device simultaneously with the current application; andif yes, further determine whether the current application has a priorityhigher than that of each of the at least one other application and ifso, further determine whether the fingerprint identification device isoccupied by the historical application.

As another implementation, the method may further include determiningwhether the current application is in a preset security-access controllist, and degrading the priority of the current application based on adetermination that the current application is not in the presetsecurity-access control list.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the method in this implementation includes thefollowing.

At block 201, a request of a current application to invoke a fingerprintidentification device (such as a fingerprint sensor) is detected.

At block 202, whether there is at least one other application requestingto invoke the fingerprint identification device simultaneously with thecurrent application is determined. If yes, proceed to block 203;otherwise, proceed to block 207.

At block 203, whether the current application is in a presetsecurity-access control list is determined. If yes, proceed to block205; otherwise, proceed to block 204.

As an implementation, the preset security-access control list includesapplication information having security access. The current applicationis determined to be in the preset security-access control list whenapplication information of the current application has security access.Which applications are in the preset security-access control list can beset by the system, or set by the user according to personalcircumstances. For example, for a mobile terminal with an Androidsystem, when installing an application, if the system detects that anAndroid package corresponding to the application has a preset securityidentification (ID for short), the application can be added into apreset security-access control list. As another example, when a usertrusts an application, then he or she can add the application to thepreset security-access control list.

At block 204, degrade the priority of the current application andproceed to block 205. Alternatively, operations at block 203 and block204 can be performed before block 202 and the present disclosure is notlimited thereto.

As one implementation, priorities of different applications can be setby the system or by the user. The priorities may have multiple levels.In this step, the priority of the current application can be degraded bya preset number of levels. The number of levels of priorities and thepreset number of levels degraded can be adjusted according to actualsituations. Further, the priority of the current application can bedirectly degraded to the lowest level, and then the method proceeds toblock 205.

At block 205, whether the current application has a priority higher thanthat of each of the at least one other application is determined, and ifyes, proceed to block 207, otherwise, proceed to block 206.

As an example, in case that the operation at block 205 is performedafter the operation at block 204 is completed, the priority of thecurrent application referred to at block 205 is the degraded priority ofthe current application.

At block 206, a request(s) of one or more applications among the atleast one other application, whose priority is higher than that of thecurrent application, is awaited to be processed and then the methodproceeds to block 207.

In one implementation, the requests of all applications simultaneouslyrequesting to invoke the fingerprint identification device can be sortedbased on priority and processed sequentially by a fingerprint sensor.

At block 207, whether the fingerprint identification device is occupiedby the historical application is determined. If yes, proceed to block208; otherwise, proceed to block 210.

In case that the operation at block 207 is performed after the operationat block 206 is completed (205-->206-->207) rather than immediatelyafter the operation at block 205 (205-->207) is completed, thehistorical application referred to at block 207 should include otherapplications (that is, the applications processed at block 206) havingpriorities higher than that of the current application.

At block 208, whether the current application has stayed in theforeground for a preset time period is determined. If yes, proceed toblock 209; otherwise, proceed to block 211.

At block 209, the fingerprint identification device is controlled toterminate to be occupied by the historical application and the methodproceeds to block 210.

At block 210, the request of the current application is accepted.

At block 211, the fingerprint identification device is controlled torefuse the request of the current application.

In the method for invoking a fingerprint identification device accordingto the second implementation, when other applications and the currentapplication simultaneously request to invoke the fingerprintidentification device, whether the current application has a priorityhigher than that of each of the other applications is determined.Continuing, whether the fingerprint identification device is occupied bythe historical application is determined when the current applicationhas a priority higher than that of each of the at least one otherapplication. Therefore, it is possible to further avoid the conflictoccurred when multiple applications simultaneously request to invoke thefingerprint identification device, thus ensure each application canoperate normally, and thereby improving the user experience.

Third Implementation

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for invoking afingerprint identification device according to a third implementation ofthe disclosure. The apparatus can be implemented by software and/orhardware, and is generally integrated into a mobile terminal. Theapparatus can invoke a fingerprint identification device via theforegoing method for invoking a fingerprint identification device. Asillustrated in FIG. 3, an apparatus 300 may include a receiving unit302, a first determining unit 304, a second determining unit 306, and acontrol unit 308.

The receiving unit 302 can be a receiver, a transmitter, a detector, adetecting circuit, or other components with a receiving or detectingfunction. The receiving unit 302 is configured to receive or detect arequest of a current application to invoke a fingerprint identificationdevice such as a fingerprint sensor.

The first determining unit 304 can be implemented as a processor or alogic circuit, and is configured to determine whether a fingerprintidentification device is occupied by a historical application when therequest of the current application to invoke the fingerprintidentification device is detected by the receiving unit 302.

The second determining unit 306 can be implemented as a processor or alogic circuit, and is configured to determine whether the currentapplication satisfies a preset invoking condition when first determiningunit 304 determines that the fingerprint identification device isoccupied by the historical application.

The control unit 308 can be a controller and is configured to controlthe fingerprint identification device to process the request of thecurrent application according to a determination result of the seconddetermining unit 306.

In the apparatus for invoking the fingerprint identification deviceaccording to the third implementation of the disclosure, the firstdetermining unit 304 determines whether the fingerprint identificationdevice is occupied by the historical application when the request of thecurrent application to invoke the fingerprint identification device isdetected by the receiving unit 302. When the fingerprint identificationdevice is occupied by the historical application, the second determiningunit 306 determines whether the current application satisfies the presetinvoking condition. Then the control unit 308 controls the fingerprintidentification device to process the request of the current applicationaccording to the determination result of the second determining unit306. By adopting the technical scheme above, when the mobile terminalwants to enable the current application according to a user operation,if the fingerprint identification device is occupied by the historicalapplication, the fingerprint identification device will first determinewhether the current application meets the preset invoking conditioninstead of refusing the request of the current application immediately,and then the fingerprint identification device is controlled to processthe request of the current application according to the determinationresult. Thus, the conflict of invoking the fingerprint identificationdevice occurred when the fingerprint identification device is notreleased in time by the historical application can be prevented, thuscan guarantee the normal operation of the current application andimprove user experience.

Based on the above implementations, the second determining unit 306 isconfigured to determine whether the current application has stayed inthe foreground for a preset time period, and determine that the currentapplication satisfies the preset invoking condition if the currentapplication has stayed in the foreground for the preset time period.

Based on the above implementations, the control unit 308 is configuredto control the fingerprint identification device to terminate to beoccupied by the historical application and accept the request of thecurrent application, when the current application satisfies the presetinvoking condition, or refuse the request of the current applicationwhen the current application does not satisfy the preset invokingcondition.

When implemented, more than one application may request to invoke thefingerprint identification device concurrently, and in this situation,in addition to the request to invoke the fingerprint identificationdevice of the current application, the receiving unit 302 may receive ordetect requests of at least one other application to invoke thefingerprint identification device.

Here, the apparatus may further include a third determining unit 310.The third determining unit 310 is configured to determine or comparepriorities among different applications. For example, the thirddetermining unit 310 is configured to determine whether the currentapplication has a priority higher than that of each of the at least oneother application when there is the at least one other applicationrequesting to invoke the fingerprint identification devicesimultaneously with the current application. When the third determiningunit 310 determines that the current application has a priority higherthan that of each of the at least one other application, the firstdetermining unit 304 will operate to determine whether the fingerprintidentification device is occupied by the historical application.

The first determining unit 304 will await requests of a part of the atleast one other application, whose priority is higher than that of thecurrent application, to be processed, and then operate to determinewhether the fingerprint identification device is occupied by thehistorical application.

As one implementation, the other applications, whose priority is higherthan that of the current application, will be sorted according topriority (for example, by the third determining unit 310) and thenprocessed sequentially (for example, by the fingerprint identificationdevice under control of a processor).

Based on the above, the apparatus 300 further includes a priorityadjusting unit 312. The priority adjusting unit 312 is configured todetermine whether the current application is in a preset security-accesscontrol list and degrade the priority of the current application basedon a determination that the current application is not in the presetsecurity-access control list. The preset security-access control listcan be stored in a memory. For example, the priority adjusting unit 312can conduct the above operation before the third determining unit 310determines whether the current application has a priority higher thanthat of each of the at least one other application.

In one implementation, the priority adjusting unit 312 configured todegrade the priority of the current application is configured to degradethe priority of the current application according to a preset number ofgrades or levels.

Fourth Implementation

A terminal is provided in the fourth implementation. The terminalincludes the apparatus for invoking a fingerprint identification devicedescribed above. The fingerprint identification device can be invoked byperforming the foregoing method for invoking a fingerprintidentification device.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, a terminal 400 includes a processor 402, amemory 404, a fingerprint sensor 406, a communication interface 408, anda bus 410. The processor 402, the memory 404, the fingerprint sensor406, and the communication interface 408 can be coupled and communicatedvia the bus 410.

The processor 402 may be one of a central processing unit (CPU), amicro-processor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), orone or more integrated circuits for controlling the programs for theimplementation of above-mentioned technical solutions, and controlswireless communication with an external cellular network via thecommunication interface 408. The communication interface 408 includes,but is not limited to, an antenna, an amplifier, a transceiver, acoupler, a low noise amplifier (LNA), a duplexer and so on, and isconfigured to communicate with other devices or communication networkssuch as Ethernet, radio access network (RAN), wireless local areanetwork (WLAN) and the like. The fingerprint sensor 406 is configured toacquire fingerprint data of a finger of a user. The memory 404 includesat least one of a random access memory (RAM), a non-volatile memory, andan external memory, the memory 404 is configured to store executableprogram codes that executes the above-mentioned technical schemes and iscontrolled by the processor 402. The executable program codes can guidethe processor 402 to execute the method illustrated with reference toFIG. 3 of the present disclosure. The memory 404 can exist independentlyand connect to the processor 402 via the bus 410. The memory 404 canalso be integrated with the processor 402.

The memory 404 is configured to store program codes which when executedby the processor 402 become operational with the processor 402 to:receive a request of a current application to invoke the fingerprintsensor 406; determine whether the fingerprint sensor 406 is occupied bya historical application; determine whether the current applicationsatisfies a preset invoking condition when the fingerprint sensor 406 isoccupied by the historical application; control the fingerprint sensor406 to process the request of the current application according to adetermination result.

The processor 402 is configured to receive at least one otherapplication requesting to invoke the fingerprint sensor 406simultaneously with the current application, and determine whether thecurrent application has a priority higher than that of each of the atleast one other application.

The processor 402 configured to determine whether the fingerprint sensor406 is occupied by a historical application is configured to perform oneof: determining whether the fingerprint sensor 406 is occupied by thehistorical application, when the current application has a priorityhigher than that of each of the at least one other application; awaitingrequests of a part of the at least one other application to beprocessed, when the current application has a priority lower than thatof the part of the at least one other application.

The terminal in this implementation may be a mobile phone, a smartwatch, a tablet computer, and a notebook computer that is equipped witha fingerprint sensor. The fingerprint sensor is coupled with theapparatus for invoking a fingerprint identification device.

When the terminal wants to switch from the historical application to thecurrent application, if the fingerprint sensor is still occupied by thehistorical application, the fingerprint sensor will first determinewhether the current application meets the preset invoking conditioninstead of refusing the request of the current application immediately,and then is controlled to process the request of the current applicationaccording to the determination result. Thus, the conflict of invokingthe fingerprint sensor occurred when the fingerprint sensor is notreleased in time by the historical application can be avoided, such thatthe current application can operate normally and user experience can beimproved.

Fifth Implementation

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a mobile terminal 500 accordingto a fifth implementation of the disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 5,the mobile terminal 500 includes an apparatus for invoking a fingerprintidentification device. The apparatus includes an occupation determiningmodule 502, an invoking condition determining module 504, and afingerprint identification device control module 506.

The occupation determining module 502 is configured to determine whetherthe fingerprint identification device is occupied by a historicalapplication when detecting a request of a current application to invokethe fingerprint identification device.

The invoking condition determining module 504 is configured to determinewhether the current application satisfies a preset invoking conditionwhen the fingerprint identification device is occupied by the historicalapplication.

The fingerprint identification device control module 506 is configuredto control the fingerprint identification device to process the requestof the current application based on a determination result of theinvoking condition determining module 504.

The invoking condition determining module 504 is configured to determinewhether the current application has stayed in the foreground for apreset time period, and determine that the current application satisfiesthe preset invoking condition based on a determination that the currentapplication has stayed in the foreground for the preset time period.

The fingerprint identification device control module 506 is configuredto control the fingerprint identification device to terminate to beoccupied by the historical application and accept the request of thecurrent application, when determining that the current applicationsatisfies the preset invoking condition.

The fingerprint identification device control module 506 is configuredto control the fingerprint identification device to refuse the requestof the current application when determining that the current applicationdoes not satisfy the preset invoking condition.

The occupation determining module 502 includes a concurrent-requestdetermining unit 502-2, a priority determining unit 502-4, and anoccupation determining unit 502-6.

The concurrent-request determining unit 502-2 is configured to determinewhether there is at least one other application requesting to invoke thefingerprint identification device simultaneously with the currentapplication when detecting the request of the current application toinvoke the fingerprint identification device;

The priority determining unit 502-4 is configured to determine whetherthe current application has a priority higher than that of each of theat least one other application when there is at least one otherapplication requesting to invoke the fingerprint identification devicesimultaneously with the current application; and

The occupation determining unit 502-6 is configured to determine whetherthe fingerprint identification device is occupied by the historicalapplication when the current application has a priority higher than thatof each of the at least one other application.

The occupation determining module 502 further includes a priorityadjusting unit 502-8.

The priority adjusting unit 502-8 is configured to determine whether thecurrent application is in a preset security-access control list beforethe priority determining unit 502-4 determines whether the currentapplication has the priority higher than that of each of the at leastone other application, and degrade the priority of the currentapplication based on a determination that the current application is notin the preset security-access control list.

The product above can perform the methods provided in theimplementations of the disclosure, and have components configured toperform the methods and can achieve corresponding advantageous effects.Technical details not described in detail in this implementation can befound in the method provided in any implementation of the disclosure.

It should be noted that the above is merely exemplary implementations ofthe present disclosure and applied technical principles. Those skilledin the art should understand that the present disclosure is not limitedto the specific implementations described herein, and various obviouschanges, re-modifications and substitutions can be made by those skilledin the art without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.Therefore, although the present disclosure has been described in detailby way of the above implementations, the present disclosure is notlimited to the above implementations and other equivalentimplementations may be included without departing from the concept ofthe present disclosure. However, the scope of the present disclosureshall be subject to the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for invoking a fingerprintidentification device, comprising: determining whether the fingerprintidentification device is occupied by a historical application whendetecting a request of a current application to invoke the fingerprintidentification device; and determining whether the current applicationsatisfies a preset invoking condition when the fingerprintidentification device is occupied by the historical application, andcontrolling the fingerprint identification device to process the requestof the current application based on a determination result.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the determining whether the currentapplication satisfies the preset invoking condition comprises:determining whether the current application has stayed in the foregroundfor a preset time period, and determining that the current applicationsatisfies the preset invoking condition based on a determination thatthe current application has stayed in the foreground for the preset timeperiod.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the controlling thefingerprint identification device to process the request of the currentapplication based on the determination result comprises: controlling thefingerprint identification device to terminate to be occupied by thehistorical application and accepting the request of the currentapplication, when determining that the current application satisfies thepreset invoking condition.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein thecontrolling the fingerprint identification device to process the requestof the current application based on the determination result comprises:controlling the fingerprint identification device to refuse the requestof the current application when determining that the current applicationdoes not satisfy the preset invoking condition.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein the determining whether the fingerprint identification deviceis occupied by the historical application when detecting the request ofthe current application to invoke the fingerprint identification devicecomprises: determining whether there is at least one other applicationrequesting to invoke the fingerprint identification devicesimultaneously with the current application, when detecting the requestof the current application to invoke the fingerprint identificationdevice; determining whether the current application has a priorityhigher than that of each of the at least one other application whenthere is the at least one other application; and determining whether thefingerprint identification device is occupied by the historicalapplication when the current application has a priority higher than thatof each of the at least one other application.
 6. The method of claim 5,further comprising the following before the determining whether thecurrent application has a priority higher than that of each of the atleast one other application: determining whether the current applicationis in a preset security-access control list, and degrading the priorityof the current application based on a determination that the currentapplication is not in the preset security-access control list.
 7. Anapparatus for invoking a fingerprint identification device, comprising:an occupation determining module, configured to determine whether thefingerprint identification device is occupied by a historicalapplication when detecting a request of a current application to invokethe fingerprint identification device; an invoking condition determiningmodule, configured to determine whether the current applicationsatisfies a preset invoking condition when the fingerprintidentification device is occupied by the historical application; and afingerprint identification device control module, configured to controlthe fingerprint identification device to process the request of thecurrent application based on a determination result of the invokingcondition determining module.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein theinvoking condition determining module is configured to: determinewhether the current application has stayed in a foreground for a presettime period, and determine that the current application satisfies thepreset invoking condition based on a determination that the currentapplication has stayed in the foreground for the preset time period. 9.The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the fingerprint identification devicecontrol module is configured to: control the fingerprint identificationdevice to terminate to be occupied by the historical application andaccept the request of the current application, when determining that thecurrent application satisfies the preset invoking condition.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 7, wherein the fingerprint identification devicecontrol module is configured to: control the fingerprint identificationdevice to refuse the request of the current application when determiningthat the current application does not satisfy the preset invokingcondition.
 11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the occupationdetermining module comprises: a concurrent-request determining unit,configured to determine whether there is at least one other applicationrequesting to invoke the fingerprint identification devicesimultaneously with the current application when detecting the requestof the current application to invoke the fingerprint identificationdevice; a priority determining unit, configured to determine whether thecurrent application has a priority higher than that of each of the atleast one other application when there is at least one other applicationrequesting to invoke the fingerprint identification devicesimultaneously with the current application; and an occupationdetermining unit, configured to determine whether the fingerprintidentification device is occupied by the historical application when thecurrent application has a priority higher than that of each of the atleast one other application.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein theoccupation determining module further comprises: a priority adjustingunit, configured to determine whether the current application is in apreset security-access control list before the priority determining unitdetermines whether the current application has the priority higher thanthat of each of the at least one other application, and degrade thepriority of the current application based on a determination that thecurrent application is not in the preset security-access control list.13. A mobile terminal, comprising an apparatus for invoking afingerprint identification device, wherein the apparatus comprises: anoccupation determining module, configured to determine whether thefingerprint identification device is occupied by a historicalapplication when detecting a request of a current application to invokethe fingerprint identification device; an invoking condition determiningmodule, configured to determine whether the current applicationsatisfies a preset invoking condition when the fingerprintidentification device is occupied by the historical application; and afingerprint identification device control module, configured to controlthe fingerprint identification device to process the request of thecurrent application based on a determination result of the invokingcondition determining module.
 14. The mobile terminal of claim 13,wherein the invoking condition determining module is configured to:determine whether the current application has stayed in the foregroundfor a preset time period, and determine that the current applicationsatisfies the preset invoking condition based on a determination thatthe current application has stayed in the foreground for the preset timeperiod.
 15. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein the fingerprintidentification device control module is configured to: control thefingerprint identification device to terminate to be occupied by thehistorical application and accept the request of the currentapplication, when determining that the current application satisfies thepreset invoking condition.
 16. The mobile terminal of claim 13, whereinthe fingerprint identification device control module is configured to:control the fingerprint identification device to refuse the request ofthe current application when determining that the current applicationdoes not satisfy the preset invoking condition.
 17. The mobile terminalof claim 13, wherein the occupation determining module comprises: aconcurrent-request determining unit, configured to determine whetherthere is at least one other application requesting to invoke thefingerprint identification device simultaneously with the currentapplication when detecting the request of the current application toinvoke the fingerprint identification device; a priority determiningunit, configured to determine whether the current application has apriority higher than that of each of the at least one other applicationwhen there is at least one other application requesting to invoke thefingerprint identification device simultaneously with the currentapplication; and an occupation determining unit, configured to determinewhether the fingerprint identification device is occupied by thehistorical application when the current application has a priorityhigher than that of each of the at least one other application.
 18. Themobile terminal of claim 17, wherein the occupation determining modulefurther comprises: a priority adjusting unit, configured to determinewhether the current application is in a preset security-access controllist before the priority determining unit determines whether the currentapplication has the priority higher than that of each of the at leastone other application, and degrade the priority of the currentapplication based on a determination that the current application is notin the preset security-access control list.